Alibaba’s billionaire founder, Jack Ma, Ant finally gave up control of the groupA Chinese tech-finance company whose historic IPO in 2020 has been halted by Beijing authorities is undergoing restructuring, a Hong Kong newspaper reported this Saturday. South China Morning Post.

The group announced changes to its voting rights structure in a statement this Saturday. Diluting the power of founder Jack Ma To make the company moreTransparent and diversified“.

In this move, deemed necessary to carry out the long-awaited initial public offering, Ant Group is giving 10 people, including the founder, management and employees, independent voting rights.

After the restructuring, the main shareholders of AntThey enjoy the right to vote independentlyleaving no one in direct or indirect control.

“No shareholder, alone or together with any other shareholder, will have the right to control the outcome of the general meeting of Ant” or “to appoint a majority to the board of directors of Ant” and “therefore … have control over Ant,” the statement said. Read it.

Ant Group, which was created as a subsidiary of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabais an operator AlipayChina’s leading electronic payment platform.

Its long-awaited listing in Hong Kong in 2020, which was supposed to be the biggest operation in history, was canceled at the last moment by the decision of the Chinese authorities, who decided to strengthen regulatory control over the technology sector. with alleged monopolistic practices and threats to national security.

The move from Beijing happened soon after Financial bureaucracy in the Asian giant is publicly criticized And since then, the billionaire has chosen to keep a low profile and generally avoid public appearances.

Under pressure from regulators, Ant Group is in the process of distancing itself from Alibaba and reorganizing as an investment company controlling a series of subsidiaries responsible for different parts of its business.

Life outside China

Jack Ma dared to criticize China’s bureaucracy in 2020, but lay low after authorities responded by delisting Alibaba’s fintech subsidiary Ant Financial.

The Chinese tycoon, who was believed to have been arrested last May but later denied, is vacationing in Spain in 2021, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. StandardAnd last year he would spend several months in Japan Financial Times.

Beijing has allowed the tech sector to grow without too much regulation for years, but in 2020 it launched a campaign of controls that led to sanctions on several companies in the field.

Among them was Alibaba, which was hit with a hefty 18.2 billion yuan ($2.818 billion) antitrust fine, the largest in the country’s history.

(with information from EFE)

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